The Twitter account @sweden, in operation since December of 2011, is one of those beloved online curiosities that is a product of the social media age. Overseen by a pair of government agencies that handle tourism and the promotion of Swedish culture, the account is given over to a different citizen of Sweden every seven days - the goal being to display the diversity and character of the country through individual voices, 140 characters at a time. Under the cheery slogan “A new Swede every week,” the account now has more than 66,000 followers.

Since we talked preconceptions yesterday. What's your preconceptions about naturists? I think it differs between countries.

In the spring of 2013, it occurred to a former Loyola student and tech-industry professional, who tweets prolifically under the handle @ChampSuperstar, that the quirky formula might also be an effective way to showcase the singular and variegated essence of New Orleans to the world.

The account @BeingNOLA went live on June 1, with Chris Boyd, a Baton Rouge native and founder of the Apptitude app-development studio, in the pilot’s seat. Currently tweeting as @BeingNOLA is schoolteacher and Uptown resident Bobby Hadzor, who’ll hold the spot until June 16; the account, as of Tuesday, June 11, had about 600 followers as well as several parody accounts - including @BeingMetairie, @BeingKenner, @BeingBywater and @BeingLakeview, so far - that started up (perhaps predictably) in its wake.

I like the concept of @beingnola it's like bringing the class stuffed animal home for a week & writing in its journal. But not kindergarten.

But, it didn’t take long before I thought, well, ok, that’s kind of the way it should be done. Let the story of the country be told honestly by those living within it. It seems democratic and when you think about it, the only way to understand a place as a whole. To get the solution, you must find all the variables of the equation.

AF: You wouldn't think NOLA would be a particularly info-tech-savvy city, but it does have its solid Twitter social scene. What would you say New Orleans looks like, to someone who only saw it on Twitter? Is it representative of what living here feels like in real life or not?

CS: The Twitter community here is amazing. Very strong. We rely on it and use it in ways I haven’t seen in other places. Since moving back, I’ve met just about every single person I know here because of Twitter.

There’s definitely an active curiosity from people all over the world about how this place actually works: what we do, what we eat, how we speak, our losses, our triumphs. That’s existed for forever. I felt like there were real, true narratives coming through on Twitter and the outside world was getting access to that, for once. As a community, we are strong and independent, and sometimes a side effect to that is insularity.

I think we enjoy that, but I think we’d also sometimes like the chance to dismiss the narratives that television and media play in creating what the outside world views as either a controlled, streets of Disney-type environment, or a wild, unruly, dirty South. Twitter allows everyone to be as real as they want and we have chosen to do so. Yes, we can straddle the line sometimes, but most of us do similar everyday things as the rest of the world. The brilliant part is that we get to do those everyday things in an extraordinary place. I happen to think our Twitter representation is VERY accurate.

AF: You chose a person relatively new to New Orleans for the first @BeingNOLA tweeter. Why? Did he just volunteer first, or was it a conscious choice? How do you think he did?

It was actually both of those things. Chris Boyd was the very first volunteer - literally the very first email in the new inbox that wasn’t from me. He’s actually from Baton Rouge, so it wasn’t like he was totally unfamiliar, but technically, he is a newcomer to the city. But talking to him, it doesn’t feel like he’s new. It feels like he’s lived here a million years. Combine that with some fresh perspective, true love and appreciation for the city, and boundless enthusiasm and he was the obvious choice.

One guy from NOLA said "Houston is a business based city. New Orleans is a community based city." Nothing could describe both more clearly.

I always appreciated that he came to New Orleans in earnest, embracing it as it really is. Everyone’s so concerned with either its potential or its past, which is fair, but Chris really wants to be part of what’s happening now. He's a joiner rather than a savior, but if he happens to save part of it by joining in, then that's our dumb luck. I think he has done an unbelievable job kicking off this project and I’m very proud of him.

AF: How far in the future are you booked up with @BeingNOLA tweeters?

CS: I’m scheduled up through September, and there’s a list of tweeters awaiting scheduling to January 2014.

AF: Are you seeking people out or just taking volunteers?

CS: I did approach a couple of people about curation, but it is mostly volunteer or nominated curators.

AF: What do you have in mind as you curate the volunteers?

CS: New Orleans has received a lot of attention for two highly visible, polar ends of the resident social strata: One is the minority, crime-ridden, impoverished, undereducated, legacy resident and the other is the white, upper middle class, overeducated, hipster, entrepreneur culture that came in after Katrina. Both groups have obvious social characteristics and culture and both are viable, measurable influences in the city. I want to explore those, but also all these other groups that exist in between the two. I exist between the two and thousands of other people do, too.

I don’t want to be so bold as to think we’re going to disrupt that stratification, but there are some simple questions at play. What makes us interesting as individuals? But what are the things that make us the same? What makes us New Orleanians? And what does it mean to be one? (Which is a question Chris Boyd also posed on @BeingNOLA this week.)

So, New Orleans: In your opinion, what does it mean to be a New Orleanian?

Without trying to be too tethered to this metaphor, I think equation is an interesting word – it means the state of being equal. What are those transformative values that will eventually equalize us? Is it fear of another Katrina? Is it hope for another Superbowl win? Yes, among a whole lot of other things.

I also should address that I’m not being unrealistic about who uses Twitter and how they use it. I know there are going to be some missing demographics, but that’s just the nature of the Internet.